Hotel hygiene checks available online

By Rosemary Behan

12:01AM GMT 06 Mar 2004

Holidaymakers can now use the internet to check whether the hotels they book conform to food-hygiene standards.

A new website launched by Check Safety First (formerly known as Cristal), a British food-hygiene company, allows travellers to enter the names of hotels in nine popular holiday destinations, including Spain, Greece, the Dominican Republic and Tunisia.

Only hotels and cruise ships that have been awarded the internationally-recognised Cristal Mark, developed in accordance with World Health Organisation legislation, appear on the website, . They must also have maintained these standards over time.

Check Safety First can turn up unannounced to conduct checks. Large international hotels are inspected every month; smaller establishments are visited once or twice a year.

Steve Tate, chief executive of Check Safety First, said reliable information on food safety standards was long overdue. "No one would want to put their family's health on the line, but until now it has been impossible to know whether the accommodation has a good track record in hygiene. Our new website can help tourists make a more informed decision about where they stay."

He added: "Since standards vary so widely it's vital to find out which venues are safe. About 2 million British tourists suffer from food-related illnesses each year."

Brenda Wall, founder of the Birmingham-based campaign group Holiday TravelWatch, which each year handles thousands of complaints from travellers about holiday illnesses, said that the website was a "step in the right direction".

She emphasised, however, that the site covered only a small percentage of the total number of hotels used by British holidaymakers.

"Finding out what places are like before you get there can be very difficult," she said.

Some 350 hotels and cruise ships are currently featured on the website, but hundreds more are soon to be added.